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This post results from noticing this pick being used by some mandolin players more info and most of the post comes from
http://www.mandolincafe.com/fo.....23419.html
Here are some photos of this plecktrum :
Intrigued and not finding them for sale at anything near normal pick prices I decided to try making one following the ancient method. "How do you sculpt an elephant statue, You get a big block of grey granit, And carve away anything that doesnt look like an elephant"
So I cut some ebony off-cuts into a 60mm length and cut away everything that did not look like a plectrum. Hack Saw, box cutter, scraper and various kinds of sandpaper were used. Glue stick held the plectrum on its edge. No Tortoise shell to work with here. First tries on the mandolin are promising.
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HA ! Nice work Ray ! I like the "traditional" approach... very cool !
I seriously recommend not copying my mistakes. D'oh - 
Please make your own, different mistakes, and help us all learn :-)
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Very cool Ray.
Vibrato Desperato.... Desperately seeking vibrato
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Would using a bench mounted electric belt sander be still considered "traditional"...?
"If you practice with your hands you must practice all day. Practice with your mind and you can accomplish the same amount in minutes." Nathan Milstein
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Ah very cool. Thanks for sharing pictures.
Opportunity is often missed because it wears suspenders and looks like hard work.
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cdennyb said
Would using a bench mounted electric belt sander be still considered "traditional"...?
I would think that would give an odd sound and be kinda rough on the strings.
Although I have seen some metal kids picking with power drills and such..
"This young wine may have a lot of tannins now, but in 5 or 10 years it is going to be spectacular, despite the fact that right now it tastes like crude oil. You know this is how it is supposed to taste at this stage of development." ~ Itzhak Perlman
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You to can experience the feel of a Roman Plectrum using a plastic thumb pick, Tucs suggested it and I dropped a plastic thumb pick into a tumbler of water and microwaved it for 2 minutes. It totally uncurled itself and I dumped the water, dried and cooled it off and it gives a decent impersanation of a Roman Plectrum.
Octave Ray
Wonder how they would work for violin "Pizzicato" 
Nice work, Ray.
Ken.
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Hey Ray ,
Great idea to make yer own plectrums ...different materials and degrees of stiffness yield results that can be honed to yer tastes ... keep up yer good work ...
Good question , Fiddlestix ...i asked myself the same thing a couple of years ago about using a pick fer pizzicato on violin ...two issues i found were ...excessive string wear ..a bit rough on our expensive strings ...dang ....also , quality of sound produced was poor ...perhaps from a lack of gripping texture we get from bare fingers and thumbs ..note that i often rosin up my fingers fer doin pizzicato ...sticky but works fer me ...
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